Ecommerce Email:
19 Type of Emails you should be sending Religiously

1. Never, under any circumstances, rent or buy an email list – This is a big no-no in email marketing. Not only is it unethical, but it can also harm your brand reputation and lead to legal issues. Instead, focus on building your own email list organically through lead magnets, opt-ins, and other strategies.
2. Segment your email list – Your subscribers are not all the same, so it’s important to segment your list based on factors such as demographics, behavior, interests, and preferences. This will allow you to tailor your messages to each group and improve your targeting and conversion rates.
3. Always personalize subject lines and content – You may have multiple target audience that you’re trying to reach via emails. But what if you know you can’t reach your entire audience with a single message? That’s where personalization comes in.Personalization is key to making your emails more engaging and relevant to your subscribers. Use their name, location, or other data to personalize subject lines and content and make them feel valued.
4. Use mobile responsive templates – More and more people are checking their emails on their mobile devices, so it’s important to use templates that are optimized for mobile. This will ensure that your emails are readable and accessible on any device. The message has to be delivered to the recipients in a clear and succinct manner, with a design that’s memorable for them. With limited screen real estate, you need to check the UI/UX twice as much.
5. Keep your main message above the fold – The “fold” is the point at which the email preview ends and the subscriber needs to scroll down to read more. Make sure your main message, call-to-action, and key information are above the fold so that they are immediately visible.
6. Clean your email list regularly – Over time, your email list may accumulate inactive or invalid email addresses, which can harm your deliverability and engagement rates. Regularly clean your list by removing inactive or invalid subscribers and sending re-engagement campaigns to those who haven’t interacted with your emails in a while. At the same time, keep growing your email list.
7. Avoid using “no-reply” in the sender address field (it’s a total turn off) – Using a “no-reply” email address can make your emails seem impersonal and unapproachable. Instead, use a real person’s name or a general email address that subscribers can reply to if they have any questions or feedback.
8. Offer incentives to increase open and engagement rates – Incentives such as discounts, freebies, or exclusive content can motivate subscribers to open your emails and take action. Use them strategically to boost your engagement rates and drive conversions.
9. Use an ESP that aligns with your business model and goals – An email service provider (ESP) is the software you use to send your emails. Choose an ESP that offers the features and integrations that align with your business model and goals, and that fits your budget and technical requirements.
10. Always A/B test – A/B testing involves sending two versions of the same email to a subset of your list and comparing their performance to determine which version is more effective. Always test different elements such as subject lines, CTAs, or visuals to optimize your emails and improve your results over time.
11. Start a welcome email series – What time is the best time to start a string of emails to your customers? It is when they’ve just signed up for your newsletter or website. They voluntary want to hear from you and therefore, when you send a welcome series of 3 emails, the new subscribers will get to know you more before they are on the regular email list. Once you build this quick rapport, you can tailor their messages and get guaranteed open rates thereafter. Here’s a post on our welcome email series, which will give you a better perspective.
12. Offer Members-Only Discounts – We spoke about incentives in the points above. Let’s look at a great example of how members-only discounts do their trick. The best example is Starbucks. Their card lets members upgrade their drink and get a freebie on their birthday. While this is not an ecommerce example per se, you do get the drift. Also remember when social media channel Clubhouse launched? It dwelled on members-only exclusivity, which worked like a charm. Similarly, make way for member-only discounts for your target audience to woo them and build brand loyalty. Next, take it to the second level with loyal-customers only discount.
13. Add a dash of humor – A little humor works fantastic for ecommerce brands. You can always experiment with tongue-in-cheek, punny, subject lines that make the recipients notice. Try it a few times, and if it works, then there is nothing like it. You’ve nailed the strategy and hooked your audience!

How to Measure the Effectiveness of eCommerce Email Campaigns?

If you want to derive the best results for your ecommerce business, the first thing you need to do is to measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns. While there are several ways to do so, here are some of the metrics we highly recommend:

1. Open Rate

   For email marketers, the open rate has always been a widely used and uncomplicated metric. It helps to monitor the proportion of subscribers who open a particular email, providing valuable information on the engagement level of our subscribers and the performance of various subject lines.

2. Click-through rate (CTR)

   1. CTR would indicate what percentage of subscribers clicked on the link.
   2. There are several ways to improve the click-through rates when crafting an email such as including links throughout the email and incorporate an attention-grabbing call-to-action button.
   3. Compared to open rates, click-through rates are typically much lower (slightly above 2%).

3. Conversion rate

   1. Conversion rates provide valuable insight into your return on investment.
   2. When you know how much you have invested and the number of subscribers who converted, it becomes easier to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaign and determine whether the money invested is yielding positive results.

4. Bounce rate

   1. Measures the number of subscriber email addresses that didn’t receive your email
   2. Soft bounces are temporary problems while hard bounces are permanent problems
   3. High percentage of hard bounces indicate low-quality email lists
   4. Double opt-in requirement can decrease bounce rates

5. Number of unsubscribes

   1. Measures the number of people who unsubscribed from your email.
   2. High number of unsubscribes indicate list fine-tuning.
   3. Opportunity to unsubscribe builds trust with subscribers.

6. List growth rate

   1. Measures the rate at which your list is growing.
   2. Calculated by taking the number of new subscribers minus the number of unsubscribes, divided by the total number of email addresses on your list, and then multiplied by 100.

7. Spam complaints

   1. Measures the number of times your emails have been marked as spam.
   2. High spam complaint rate may lead to email service provider taking action against you.
   3. Avoiding spam filters is important to maximize email campaign results.

8. Forwarding rate/email sharing

   1. Measures the percentage of recipients who shared your email through social media or forwarded it to a friend.
   2. Indicates brand advocates and what percentage of subscribers are recommending your emails to others.

9. Engagement over time

   1. Tracks engagement over time to determine the best times of day to send messages.
   2. Email service providers may automate this feature, but it’s recommended to track this metric on your own.

10. Overall ROI

    1. Tells you the overall return on investment for your email campaigns.
    2. Calculated by taking the money made from the campaign minus the money spent, divided by the money invested, and then multiplied by 100.

11. Email sharing rate

    1. Indicates how many times a recipient shared your email through their social media.
    2. Calculated by dividing the amount of “share this” clicks by the number of total emails delivered, then multiplied by 100.

12. Mobile open rate

    1. Works the same way as regular open rate, but applies specifically to mobile devices.
    2. Mobile open rates are more popular during the weekends.

13. Mobile click rate

    1. Works the same way as regular click rate, but applies specifically to mobile devices.
    2. Mobile click rates are usually much lower than desktop click rates.
    3. Mobile click rate may be affected by Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection feature.